


Til I Change My Luck

by becomingshades



Series: Fireproof [3]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, Love, One-Shot, Romance, Shameless Self-Indulgence, Snarky Teenagers, Things to Ruin Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-12
Updated: 2014-11-12
Packaged: 2018-02-25 04:23:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2608340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/becomingshades/pseuds/becomingshades
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He'd spent a lifetime keeping his relationship drama away from his children. And this... This was the ultimate relationship drama, insofar as he was concerned.</p><p> </p><p>  <em>(a story about keeping secrets, telling the truth, and starting again for real)</em></p><p> </p><p>  <strong>scenes from the to things to ruin universe.</strong></p>
            </blockquote>





	Til I Change My Luck

**Author's Note:**

> This is unrepentant self-indulgence, here. Scenes and pieces of Harry & Hellie's story that I saw in my head so very clearly, but which really have no narrative home of their own. It's not specifcally intended as a sequel, because... I dunno. I like the idea of you guys getting to make up your own minds about how some of these things went down.
> 
> But the ideas were there. And I love, love, LOVE writing these two fools. So. I'm sharing. So you can see how I imagine things going down.
> 
> xx

Alone in the empty theater, he fiddled with the bandage on his left forearm nervously. The mark had healed more than enough to forgo the wrapping, and frankly, it was making him really itchy, but it kept everything out of sight from the lads and unless and until he was absolutely sure he wanted them to know... well, the H he'd branded into his skin needed to remain under wraps. There's no way they wouldn't notice if it was flying free.

Except. He really was tired of hiding. And he knew Hellie was too.

He shook his head to himself, amazed and annoyed that he and Hellie had managed to get themselves into the exact same situation again. One where the relationship they shared was something the rest of the world wasn't allowed to see. Only this time, it was worse. Because they were hiding it from even the people closest to them. His bandmates. Their parents. Their  _children_.

It was just... They'd taken up again at such a delicate time. He'd felt so sure, in that moment, of his feelings. Felt so sure that he'd finally sorted something that had been plaguing him for years. For most of his adult life. And he'd been sure of Hellie too. But time was... Necessary. Especially where the children were concerned. He'd spent a lifetime keeping his relationship drama away from his children. And this... This was the ultimate relationship drama, insofar as he was concerned. It had to work. They had to know first.

And besides. He wanted Hellie to himself for a while. No prying eyes. No questions. It wasn't even just the press he was worried about -- though they had never helped anything -- no, it was his mates. It was family. Their words would be the most cutting. He didn't want to hear it. He just wanted Hellie.

And fuck, it was fun. Secret meetings. Illicit lunchtime rendezvous at posh hotels under false names. They'd made a bit of a game of it, feeling like twenty-year-olds again,. Like it was the first time. Some part of him was enjoying it. They'd gotten a bit caught up in that part. In the fun and the freedom (even in all the hiding, there was a kind of freedom).

But now, most of him just wanted Hellie to be the last thing he saw before he went to sleep at night. Wanted to be her alarm clock every morning. And fuck, you had to be gone for Hellie McGovern to risk that even a few times, let alone in perpetuity. But that was all he wanted anymore. He wanted her home to be his home to be their home. Forever.

So maybe it was just time.

Waiting for the lads to show up for rehearsal, he ripped the bandage off.

 

*

 

"So are you going to tell us about that disgusting looking shite you've got there on your arm, or do we have to ask?" Louis asked.

"Ehm--I guess I was..." he looked down at the scabbed over, healing wound. The H for Hellie.

"Whatever, like. We're asking, you tosser," Louis added.

"It's... it's an H."

"We can see that, Haz," Liam prodded gently, eyeing Louis into silence.

"This is... when Hellie was hurt, I... I scratched an H into my arm, just here. I was gone, like, just... out of it, and, yeah," he took a very deep breath and spoke to his arm, "But now that Hellie and I are together again, I wanted to make it permanent. I never got a tattoo for Hellie and I wanted to make it permanent."

When he finally looked up he was... expecting something else. Shock. Anger? Just... anything like. Anything but four utterly blank stares.

"Fucking finally," Niall muttered.

"Finally?" he asked, voice cracking a note.

"Your kids told us you were back together ages ago, mate. We've been waiting since... April? May? April," Louis offered, by way of explanation.

"My kids?"

"Cass, Ollie?" Zayn asked, a teasing note to his voice. "You know, about yea big, brown hair. One of em looks like you, the other is a boy."

"My children told you I was back together with their mother?"

"Yes, mate, that's what we're saying," Zayn clarified, only mildly annoyed.

"But my children don't know we're back together."

Everyone stared at him.

"That's hilarious, Curly, honestly. You cannot possibly think you put this one past your children. THEY  LIVE WITH YOU!" Louis exclaimed.

"I'm not living with Hellie."

"Sure." He could practically feel Louis' eyes rolling with the word.

"I'm not!" he insisted. "Haven't done since we got back together."

"Well, whatever you're doing, it was obvious enough for Cass and Ollie to know about five months back," Zayn supplied, cutting Louis off.

For a moment, he could do nothing but stare. Five months. April. The literal moment they got back together. The last night he slept at Hellie's house. The kitchen. The kiss in the kitchen. Had they all known that long? And honestly. Who the fuck were these people, that they'd just sat on this information? Made not a peep. No snide remarks or small jokes or words of warning or encouragement or advice or congratulations or... or anything at all.

"And you've just waited? Just acted like you didn't know, and..."

"Figured there was some reason you didn't want us to know, mate. That you'd get to it when you were ready," Liam offered evenly, reasonably, kindly.

"Speak for yourselves, lads, Hellie swore me to secrecy," Niall laughed.

"WHAT?!" he turned on Niall, arms flying wide as he spun.

"In her defense, mate, I think she was about to burst, like. Told me to keep herself from slipping and telling everyone."

"She could have told me she was ready." He frowned, eyebrows knitting together.

"I think she thought it was important to let you lead, mate. Didn't want you to feel any pressure."

"Ugh," he groaned, flopping back onto the stage. "I can't even be annoyed by that."

"Horrible, innit, when your wife like... puts you first," Louis teased.

"Not my wife, Lou."

"Technicality, Haz."

"Think you'll make it legal this time, H?" Zayn asked, smiling.

"Dunno. I... We... It's only been a few months, and..." he stuttered. The truth was he thought about it all the time, but it just seemed so soon to bring it up.

"Mate, it's been like fifteen years. You branded her first initial onto your arm."

He sighed. "We haven't talked about it, okay?"

"Fine," Zayn replied, holding his hands up in surrender but continuing to smile.

"Did she really say she was waiting for me to be ready to tell everyone?" he asked, remaining on his back but flopping his head in Niall's direction.

"Not in so many words, like, but I could tell, yeah."

"She's been so... so  _certain_  this time. It's so different than before." He squeezed his eyes shut, remembering. "When... The day we decided to try, or to... to be together again, I told her I loved her, and she acted like, even then, that she knew. That she'd just been waiting for me to say it, or trying to find a way to make me say it. Or both. And it was like... she was already there. She'd been there for a while, a long time, maybe. I don't know. But this time she's made sense of it all first. I'm not used to that. Not with Hellie. 'S weird."

"Sounds like a good thing to me, mate," Niall supplied.

"Good weird," he affirmed.

"Aww, Haz!" Louis cooed, "Lads, I think this is it! Our little baby is finally growing up!"

Louis dove on Harry, shouting something stupid into his shoulder as the rest of the lads followed suit.

Lying at the bottom of a pile of his best mates and laughing at the ceiling, he thought about reminding them that he'd grown up a long time ago. Like when he met Hellie. Or at the very least when they'd had the twins. He'd loved and lost and loved again and maybe it was different this time, but it wasn't exactly a first. It wasn't exactly new.

But then it occurred to him that maybe they were right. Maybe growing up wasn't quite the word they'd been looking for. But this was... not the same. Not like anything else in his past. Because for all the things he'd committed to in his life -- his band, his music, his children -- a romantic relationship had never really been one of them. Hellie had been the one he'd come closest with, and even then, they'd bollocksed that up pretty quickly. If he married her this time, when he married her this time... It would be different. It already was. He'd burned her into his skin. And that, alone, was something he'd never had the courage, the sureity, to do before. And he did now. Because it wasn't just him, now. It was her, too.

 

*

 

"So that's it, then?" he asked as he trailed behind Louis out of the theater, completely unable to help himself.

"What's it?"

"You're not going to give out to me for hiding this from you? Or like... Tell me what a horrible idea this all is?"

"No?" Louis asked, coming to a complete halt somewhere near the last row.

"Seriously? You're just going to... Act like you always knew this was coming and call it a day?"

"Are you telling me you want a lecture? Because I can arrange for that. But my lecture is going to be something like: 'took you idiots long enough to get it together, can't believe we had to watch ten years of this shite.'"

"Really?"

"Yes, really. What are you expecting from me?"

"I don't know, something like 'This is a horrible idea, you couldn't make it work when it mattered the first time and what makes you think you can really do this again, and this time, when you fuck it up, you're going to take your damn kids down with you, so maybe you should quit while you're ahead. Jesus, I told you this the first time with her.'"

"What ever gave you the impression I felt that way?"

"I dunno," he shrugged. "I just... Gems warned me to stay away from Hellie, that Hellie's no good for me, and you hated Hellie at first and I just thought..."

"That was a long time ago, Haz. And Gemma is your sister, H. Your big sister."

"So? You're my best mate," he reminded Louis, pouting a little.

"I just mean I know you differently, and maybe even a bit better. And I definitely know your relationship with Hellie better."

"And?"

"And I don't want to lect-- Look, Haz. Did you two talk this through?"

"Me and Gems?"

"Really?" he asked dryly, waiting a beat before he continued. "You and Hellie, ya iijit. Did you two talk about what happened, and why things changed, and what you're going to have to do differently this time to make it work?"

"Of course we did!" he squawked. "How could you even ask?" Louis barked a laugh, sudden and loud but kind. "Oh..."

"Yeah. Oh," he replied, smiling fondly. "You're an adult, Haz. I've watched you spend the last ten years learning and relearning the finer points of your mistakes with Hellie. I've watched her do the same. I know neither of you would get back into this blithely, like."

He couldn't help the cheeky (slightly relieved, mostly cheeky) smile that spread across his lips.

"Lou, did you just use the word blithely? Are you my nan?"

"Piss off, Styles. I'm trying to be nice to you. It's not easy, you know."

Despite the difference in size between them, Louis pulled him into a headlock quite easily, mussing up his hair. He struggled, but only a little, feeling a weird sort of relief in knowing that Louis was... this way. Felt this way. Could react this way.

It had been almost as upsetting to not get a lecture from the lads as it would have been to actually  _get_ one. The absence of opinion with a group like theirs was just... unheard of, really. Eerie. Suspicious. But maybe. Maybe Louis was right. Maybe they'd all been watching this for too long, maybe they were all as relieved as he was to have him and Hellie back as one. Maybe that was the collective opinion.

 

*

 

"I told them," he murmured in Hellie's ear as he lifted her off the ground in a hug.

"You did?!" she asked, pulling back and pushing at his arms.

"I did," he nodded, enormous, dopey smile taking over his face as Hellie slid to the floor.

"How do you feel?"

"Pretty brilliant."

Hellie took his cheeks in her hands and leaned in for a series of smacking kisses, their smiles far, far too big for anything deeper. A laugh rumbled up through his chest.

"I love you," he said.

"Is it really juvenile that I still get a little like... rush every time you say that?" Hellie asked, pressing her forehead to his.

"I love you," he repeated. "I love you, I love you, I--"

Hellie cut him off with a deeper kiss. One with intent behind it. But he wasn't ready to go there just yet. Because first there was some business to be tended to.

"Hey," she murmured as he pulled away, reaching for his cheeks to try and reel him back in.

"Hey," he replied, hushed, allowing one more quick peck. "Let's toast or something."

"Mmmm, let's."

"You go get the booze. I'm going to ditch my shoes, alright?" he said, releasing Hellie with a pat on the bum and turning back to hang his coat and shuck his boots, dropping them in the basket by the door.

When he got to the kitchen, Hellie was pulling a bottle of Laphroaig down from the liquor cabinet. For a moment, he admired the view. Hellie was still in her work clothes, and her leather pencil skirt hugged all the right curves-- and by that, he meant all of her curves, really. On tiptoe, her heel was slipping out of the back of a fierce, gold stiletto and the muscles in her calves stood out in sharp relief. He wanted to run his mouth over every line of her.

But first. There was some teasing to do.

"So, Niall, huh?"

"Niall what?" Hellie asked, looking over her shoulder innocently as she poured the second tumbler of whiskey.

"Oh, you're good," he replied, one eyebrow raised as he let the silence between them continue for several skeptical beats. "Or at least, you think you are."

"He told you." She narrowed her eyes. "The rat!"

"Rat? Helen, he's one of my best mates, of course he told me."

"Mine too! And I asked him not to do."

"Maybe you need to make some friends of your own, then," he teased.

Hellie had crossed her arms over her chest, trying to maintain an air of superiority, but at that she melted. For a moment, she appeared to earnestly consider his suggestion, before smiling brightly back at him.

"You're right. I'm out of here. You can watch our kids like... all the time. Forever. I've got friends to make."

Hellie brushed past him airily, heading for the kitchen door. Just before she was out of reach, he snagged her wrist and gave it one solid tug. When she stumbled, caught off balance, he dropped her wrist and swept in to wrap an arm around her waist and steady her against his chest.

"Don't go," he mumbled, pursing his lips around a smile.

"No, no, I must." Eyes downcast, she shook her head solemnly. "My boyfriend thinks my social life needs work and I can't  _bear_  to disappoint him."

"What if your boyfriend just realized he's an idiot and he'd rather keep you to himself? Would that change your mind?"

"I dunno, that doesn't sound like my boyfriend. He never admits when he's being an idiot."

"Well, what if he did this time?" He formed the words against her neck, swiveled his hips against her.

"No. I should go. I love him too much to let him down," she continued dramatically.

With a flowery sigh, Hellie attempted to pull herself from his grasp completely, but he would have none of that. Instead of fighting, he followed, keeping his hands on her hips and crowding her up against the door frame.

"Yeah, not going to let that happen," he murmured before pressing his lips down on hers. Despite all her feigned fight, Hellie acquiesced to his kiss immediately.

"Seriously, love, aside from Niall's stunning betrayal of my trust, how'd it go?" she asked as his lips dragged wetly down her neck some time later.

He mumbled a 'fine' against her clavicle before pulling the neck of her t-shirt away to suck softly at the soft skin near the curve of her arm.

"That's all you have to say? Fine?"

He ignored her, licking a line beside the strap of her bra and then around the swell of the cup.

"Harry," she half-laughed, shoving at his shoulders lightly.

"And they already knew because our horrible children told them," he mumbled into the seam between her breasts.

"What?!" she exclaimed, chest jumping under his lips, "How do the kids know?!"

"Apparently we are very bad at hiding things."

"Oh," she began, as if she had a lot more to say. He was no longer in the mood for any kind of teasing. He cut her off  by hooking a thumb into her bra and grazing the edge of his nail over her nipple. "Ohhhhh," she breathed, inarticulate.

Finally taking the hint, Hellie slotted her fingers into his hair and pulled his mouth up to hers. With a pleased hum that she swallowed hungrily, he released her t-shirt and bra to slide sliding his hands around her waist, then over the small of her back before squeezing her bum in his hands as they continued to kiss.

"Speaking of our children. Are they here?" he asked.

"Ollie's got practice. And a," she replied, thoughts studded between kisses, "Study thing. At Ben's. Cass is on a. A school trip. Due back late. Really late."

"So, no?"

"No."

"Good," he scraped the word against her jaw, before smiling mischievously. "Because now that we're not hiding this anymore, I want to have sex with you on every surface in this house. We're starting with the kitchen island."

Hellie didn't waste any time sweeping everything off the worktop and sending it clattering to the floor.

 

*

 

"Want to know what I learnt yesterday, Hellie?" he asked, raising a leading eyebrow as he put down his fork and clasped his hands in his lap.

"I don't know, Harry, do I?" she asked, eyes sparking with swallowed laughter.

"That's not an answer, sweetheart."

"What do you think, kids, do we want to hear what Dad learnt yesterday?"

"What is  _wrong_  with you guys?" Cass groaned, facepalming.

"Is that a no?" he asked, biting down on a smile.

"Like you're not going to tell us anyway, Dad," Ollie put in, cocking his head to the side with a dry expression on his face.

"Well,  ** _I_**  want to know, love," Hellie replied, smile growing as she rested a hand, palm up, on the table between them. He accepted her invitation and wound his fingers into hers.

"I heard, that our children told my mates that you and I were back together."

Hellie unleashed an enormous fake gasp. Cass and Ollie froze, expressions lost somewhere between contrite and annoyed and aggrieved and so impossibly tired of their horribly annoying parents.

"They did what?!"

"I was as surprised to hear it as you are, darling. Considering neither one of them has said anything to us, and neither one of us has said anything to them."

"Please, like you had to tell us," Ollie replied, unimpressed. "Have you ever seen what you look like when you're together lately? It's gross."

"What are you even on about, Dad? I  _saw you two snogging_  like a million years ago," Cass added.

"Just because you saw your mum and I kiss-- Okay, you know what? I don't even want to finish that thought," he sighed, running a hand over his face. "Why didn't you talk to us about it?"

"Why didn't  _you_  talk to  _us_  about it?" Ollie countered.

He found himself completely silenced. And wishing he'd prepared better for this conversation. His children clearly weren't children any longer. They were totally aware. And complete participants in this conversation. Which, come to think of it, was part of why they'd tried to keep everything under wraps. But fuck if he knew how to say that.

"Ollie, sweetheart, your Dad and I--" Hellie began, closing her eyes for a beat before picking up the thread of her thought.  "This is serious, this thing with your father and I. And I don't mean like, our romantic relationship is serious -- though it is now, or, again, really, but. What I mean is... We know that our choices impact a lot of people. More than just us. And that there are relationships at stake that are even more important than our relationship to each other. Our relationship with you two is the most important thing in our lives. Has been since the minute I found out I was expecting you."

"We wanted to be sure," he finished simply. Hellie could quite possibly go on forever, and they were losing the twins. They may not be children anymore, but they were still kids. Teenagers. Their attention spans for parent-related things were pretty short.

"We wanted to be sure this was..." Hellie furrowed her brow, looking for the right words. "That this worked."

"...Okay," Cass put in tentatively.

"So you're sure now?" Ollie asked.

"We're sure now," Hellie affirmed, squeezing his hand and offering him a ridiculously beautiful smile. "And we're sorry if you two felt like you were being lied to, or deceived, or... I don't know. We're sorry we couldn't tell you sooner. But some stuff is our stuff, you know? Adult stuff. You guys are kids. You shouldn't have to worry about it."

 

*

 

"Are you serious about my mother?" Ollie asked, less humorously than he would have expected.

They were cleaning up the last of dinner while Hellie went over an assignment on Shakespeare with Cass. Of the two of them, she was the most qualified for that. Actually, all homework related questions were best directed to his college-graduating, summa-cum-laude-degree-bearing girlfriend. But especially the ones about literature and theater.

At least he knew how to cook. And dry dishes after Ollie cleaned them.

"Ol, you know I agree with your mum, our relationship is adult stuff. We're not pulling you into it."

"Dad, just answer my question."

Ollie heaved a long-suffering sigh, and for a moment, he couldn't help himself. He had to take the piss.

"Don't you think your Mum can take care of herself? Independent woman 'n all that? Shouldn't you be asking her the same questions about me?"

"Stop trying to change the subject, Dad," he intoned, drying his hands on his trousers. Gross. Teenagers.

"Yeah, Ol. Dead serious. I love your mum a pretty overwhelming amount. Probably always have. I just... There was a lot..." he sighed, "We needed some time to get here. But yeah. I love love your mum. This is it."

Seemingly satisfied by the answer, Ollie nodded and turned to head out the door.

"There's two of us, you know," he offered, rolling his eyes at his father's confused silence. "You said maybe I should ask Mum the same questions. But there are two of us. We can double team. What do you think Cass has been doing this whole time?"

Before he could even manage to close his mouth, let alone form words, Ollie was gone.

"Hellie," he called, head back, shouting at the ceiling. "We have the cheekiest children on the planet. I think we should just put them up for adoption and start again. Raise the next few better, like, so they don't give out to their Mum and Dad."

From a distance he heard Hellie chuckle, but the house made it's good-night noises around him without pause and he found himself smiling as sinks ran while teeth were cleaned and the floor in Cass' bedroom creaked about his head. He liked it all. The cheeky kids and the goodnight noises and Hellie's echo of laughter. He was glad he didn't have to leave anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> See? Just fluff and nonsense and total self-indulgence.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed it! There is more nonsense where this came from, too, so... expect another story. Maybe in a week or so? It'll be short. Shorter even than this, but, I think it's chock-full of lots of cute details. 
> 
> And ugh. I'm so besotted with these characters it's just silly.
> 
> Thanks for reading you lovely, lovely humans. You are the very best.
> 
> xxloose


End file.
